Biliary tract infection with the Group I carcinogenic liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini is associated with severe inflammation leading to cholangiocarcinoma – a major biliary cancer in Southeast Asia. However, mechanism(s) by which the liver fluke induces host mucosal immune/inflammatory responses are unclear. In the present study we address whether a normal immortalized human cholangiocyte cell line (H69 cells) recognizes and responds to O. viverrini excretory/secretory products (OVES). Expression of multiple TLRs, activation of NF-κB, and expression of proinflammatory cytokines were monitored in the presence and absence of OVES. Our results showed that OVES induced increased cholangiocyte TLR4 mRNA expression, induced IκB-α degradation in a MyD88-dependent manner, and activated NF-κB nuclear translocation. Moreover, OVES induced expression and secretion of the strong chemoattractant chemokine interleukin 8 (IL-8) and pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6. These results demonstrate that secreted/excreted products of O. viverrini are recognized by human cholangiocytes and initiate innate mucosal immunity/inflammatory cascades, a primary event in the pathogenesis of opisthorchiasis and cholangiocarcinoma.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is an incurable, fibroinflammatory biliary disease for which there is no effective pharmacotherapy. We recently reported cholangiocyte senescence as an important phenotype in PSC while others showed that portal macrophages accumulate in PSC. Unfortunately, our ability to explore cholangiocyte senescence and macrophage accumulation has been hampered by limited in vitro models. Thus, our aim was to develop and characterize a three dimensional model (3D) of normal and diseased bile ducts (cholangioids) starting with normal human cholangiocytes (NHC), senescent NHC (NHC-sen), and cholangiocytes from PSC patients. In 3D culture, NHCs formed spheroids of ~5000 cells with a central lumen of ~150 μm. By confocal microscopy and western blot, cholangioids retained expression of cholangiocyte proteins (cytokeratin 7/19) and markers of epithelial polarity (secretin receptor and GM130). Cholangioids are functionally active, and upon secretin stimulation, luminal size increased by ~ 80%. Cholangioids exposed to hydrogen peroxide exhibited cellular senescence (SA-βGal and γH2A.x expression) and the senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP; increased IL-6, p21, β;-Gal and p16 expression). Furthermore, cholangioids derived from NHC-sen or PSC patients were smaller and had slower growth than the controls. When co-cultured with THP-1 macrophages, the number of macrophages associated with NHC-sen or PSC cholangioids was 5 to7-fold greater compared to co-culture with non-senescent NHC. We observed that NHC-sen and PSC cholangioids release greater numbers of extracellular vesicles (ECVs) compared to controls. Moreover, conditioned media from NHC-sen cholangioids resulted in an ~2-fold increase in macrophage migration. In summary, we developed a method to normal and diseased cholangioids, characterized them morphologically and functionally, showed that they can be induced to senescence and SASP, and demonstrated both ECV release and macrophage attraction. This novel model mimics several features of PSC and thus will be useful for studying the pathogenesis of PSC and potentially identifying new therapeutic targets.